Throughout the last century, there has been continuous study of Paul as a writer of letters. Although this fact was acknowledged by previous generations of scholars, it was during the twentieth century that the study of ancient letter-writing practices came to the fore and began to be applied to the study of the letters of the New Testament. This volume seeks to advance the discussion of Paul's relationship to Greek epistolary traditions by evaluating the nature of ancient letters as well as the individual letter components. These features are evaluated alongside Paul's letters to better understand Paul's use and adaptations of these traditions in order to meet his communicative needs.

Table of Contents

Pauline Epistolography: An Introduction

Stanley E. Porter and Sean A. Adams

A Functional Letter Perspective: Towards a Grammar of Epistolary Form

Stanley E. Porter

Paul's Letter Opening and Greek Epistolography: A Matter of Relationship

Sean A. Adams

How to Begin, and Why? Diverse Functions of the Pauline Prescript within a Greco-Roman Context

Philip L. Tite

Gospel within the Constraints of an Epistolary Form: Pauline Introductory Thanksgivings and Paul's Theology of Thanksgiving

David W. Pao

Paul's Letter Thanksgiving

Peter Arzt-Grabner

A Significant Decade: The Trajectory of the Hellenistic Epistolary Thanksgiving